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Russian President Vladimir Putin has pushed back at prospects for European leaders to help negotiate an end to his war in Ukraine, dismissing them as mediators and pointedly insisting on a peace deal he said had been worked out with US President Donald Trump in Alaska.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can the European Union or individual EU countries serve as mediators when they are directly assisting the country with which we are in an armed conflict?\u201d Putin said at a meeting with foreign media in St Petersburg late on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can they be mediators? Mediation implies neutrality.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Oil steady with focus on geopolitical risk before Iran talks
Ukraine and allies grow confident Russia\u2019s invasion losing steam<\/p>\n
Officials from Europe\u2019s three biggest economies \u2013 Germany, France and the UK \u2013 have been discussing the possibility of holding talks involving Russia and Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. They have also talked about the matter with their Ukrainian counterparts, the people said.<\/p>\n
Putin reiterated that he\u2019d reached an agreement with Trump on what he said was a compromise peace deal at their\u00a0summit in Anchorage\u00a0last August.<\/p>\n
EU states could play a role in ending the war \u201cnot by supplying weapons, but by trying to convince the Kyiv authorities to agree to the compromises we are talking about\u201d.<\/p>\n
Putin is insisting that Kyiv surrender the whole of Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region, including territory his forces have failed to capture in fighting since 2014.<\/p>\n
Ukraine has rejected that demand and has proposed to halt the war along the existing front lines as part of a deal to end Europe\u2019s worst conflict since World War II.<\/p>\n
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US-led talks with Ukraine and Russia have stalled with Trump focused on the war with Iran.<\/p>\n
With Moscow\u2019s forces suffering mounting losses amid a stalemate on the battlefield and Russia\u2019s economy under growing strain, the three European nations see an opportunity to potentially bring Putin to the negotiating table, the people familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued\u00a0an open letter\u00a0to Putin late on Thursday, calling on him to meet directly to settle the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cI propose to set a clear date for such a meeting,\u201d Zelenskyy said. \u201cWe have heard that you were promised in Alaska the resolution of certain issues concerning Ukraine and Europe. But you can see for yourself that Ukrainian and European issues are not decided in Anchorage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy said both Europe and the US should be part of the process of ending the war that\u2019s now in its fifth year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what could help shape a new security architecture for our part of the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Who can be trusted?<\/p>\n
Putin said Russia wants to know who could represent Europe in any negotiations, saying \u201cthey still need to be people who can be trusted\u201d.<\/p>\n
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He again raised the potential candidacy of former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whom he said faced criticism for being close to Putin.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not Putin\u2019s friend,\u201d the Russian president said. \u201cHe is a German statesman \u2013 and one of the best in my opinion because he has his own position and the courage to defend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putin insisted Russian forces are continuing to advance in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Threat to step up attacks\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Russia carried out sustained heavy air strikes against Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions in recent weeks, he also issued a threat to potentially step up attacks with hypersonic Oreshnik missiles.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0Russian barrage\u00a0of drones and missiles last week included an Oreshnik for the first time since January. Putin claimed it was used simply \u201cwhere it was convenient to see the results.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe counted everything down to the millimetre,\u201d Putin said. \u201cThis is important for us in order to make decisions in the future about the full-scale use of Oreshniks for the intended purposes, including in the urban area.\u201c<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a02026\u00a0Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Putin #Trump #deal #Moneyweb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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